Over 2 years ago I signed up for something called Honor Flight Austin. This is a non-profit non-govt gesture to send qualifying military veterans and their spouse to Washington DC for 2 days all expenses paid. At that time, I got a call telling me that I lived outside Austin's group of counties and Bell county was the closest county they chose veterans from, but I sent him a sat image showing him I lived less than 7 miles from the Coryell/Bell county line. (s the crow flies, it's about 4 miles). He called back the next day and said, "that's close enough Sgt York..we'll put you on the list, but we are currently working thru WW2 and Korean War vets, then we will begin with Vietnam War vets"
To be honest, I had forgotten all about it until the lady called me today and told me wife and I would leave Austin Sept 19 for DC and return on 21st. I almost did not answer the phone because I usually don't answer calls I don't recognize. Won't lie...I was in tears before the phone call was done. I just didn't ever think I'd live long enough for it to happen. I've never been to DC and to be able to go with a group of My Brothers, is an honor I can't describe. Icing on the cake is I get to take my wife with me, tho she is not quite as excited as i am. She's never been on an airliner and the closest she came was when I coaxed her into riding with me at a county fair in a Robison helicopter around the city of Liberty Texas. The whole flight may, have lasted 15 minutes. The indentations of her fingertips are still in that pilot's seat cushions. For us to be able to experience the flight and the US Capitol together is beyond my ability to describe.
Enjoy it. Sadly much of D.C. is a dumpster fire. I won't post my thoughts on that, as it not be p.c. Enjoy the trip. and maybe have your wife down a few nips before take off, so your arm doesn't have her hand imprinted on it the whole trip. Oh, one last thing, the TSA suck so plan on wanting to kill someone while going through that dog and pony show. Review the long list of banned items, and what items you can have in checked bags and not in a carry on. Nail clippers are one if it has a nail file on it. &%$# took my good ones.
[This message has been edited by 1987RedFiero (edited 07-17-2025).]
If you have the opportunity to see anything, and want some ideas of things to see (if it's not already all planned out for you), let me know... I lived there as a kid and used to work around there as well. Anyway... really happy you're going to have the opportunity. I assume you'll (obviously) be spending some time at the Vietnam Memorial... it's a pretty somber place, to be fair. The WW2 memorial has a lot of meaning, but it was so long ago that it's more a testament to a nation's sacrifice than anything else. The Korean War memorial is a little bit haunting... as you've probably seen in pictures, statues of soldiers "in the moment" with all the emotions that come with it.
... the Vietnam Memorial though, it's really, really brutal to walk through. I consider myself a pretty tough guy, but I can't honestly spend any amount of time (other than trying to walk by it quickly) without getting worked up. The wall is covered top to bottom with names and it just hits you... as I'm sure it will be for you and your brothers as well. I know it's something you're looking forward to, but I know it'll also be a little emotionally difficult too. I'm sure you know... but there's laminated books on the outskirts that you can use to look up your fellow soldiers as well.
There's also a guy who mans a military memorabilia shop at the edge of the shimmering pool, he's a Vietnam vet too... and he gives stuff to fellow Vietnam vets from purchases that other tourists make.
Anyway, I'm happy for you... and hope you take a lot of pictures.
Congratulations! You deserve this, and a lot more. I would say "thank you", but that just doesn't cover it.
Regarding the TSA, rules are being relaxed, and are apparently changing rapidly. Might not be as much of a PITA as it has been. (I haven't flown since July of 2001, so I can't speak through experience.)
Enjoy it, don't let the politics ruin it and enjoy the history and the architecture.
I was at Quantico for Sergeant's School last year, my roommate and I decided to have a morning run around the National Mall and take photos. It was a great experience and one I'll never forget.
Congratulations on being chosen for this experience. If anyone deserves such an adventure, you should be at the top of the totem pole. I've been to DC and have no desire to go back but, it is something everyone should do at least once. Again, Congrats.
Thanks! I think it's pretty much going to be a planned/canned tour, going where they say and I don't think there will be much time for individual sightseeing but I do want to make it to the Iwo jima memorial, Arlington, and Vietnam memorial. I have been to the 'traveling wall' with my father in the late 90s in East Texas so I know what to expect, and it was hard even then. I don't think he understood.. To stand in front of that big wall with my personal friends' names on it, I'm not sure I can do alone so I'm glad Jane is going too.. Hard, just thinking about it. So long ago, but I see their faces.
I suppose I should have checked in and edited this. Jane could not go with me.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 09-28-2025).]
Originally posted by maryjane: ... To stand in front of that big wall with my personal friends' names on it, I'm not sure I can do alone so I'm glad Jane is going too.. Hard, just thinking about it. So long ago, but I see their faces.
Originally posted by maryjane: I don't think he understood.. To stand in front of that big wall with my personal friends' names on it, I'm not sure I can do alone so I'm glad Jane is going too.. Hard, just thinking about it. So long ago, but I see their faces.
Don, understandable. Not that I thinks it compares, I would not know, but that sounds much like when I visit a family / friends grave site.
Enjoy the pain. You are paying your brother's respect. Which is something I think they will appreciate. More so the standard "thank you for your service". A hollow phrase.
I returned last Saturday night, after flying out of Austin Tx mid day Friday(19th). It was indeed, the trip of a lifetime, both in enjoyment and emotionally. It was at times, HARD. No, it did not cost me a single penny. There really wasn't time or opportunity to spend any $$ except maybe in the Reagan Washington airport while for our return flight plane to arrive at the gate.
Southwest Airlines, sent their best, to Austin Bergstrom to pick us up. there were 62 of us, ALL Vietnam In Country combat veterans, plus a couple dozen or more 'guardians'. They, were to look after us old men (and 1 female). There's a lot I want to say, but right now, it's 'too soon'. Still trying to digest it all. But here's us leaving Austin, going down the long gate area after we went thru security and the aircraft that Southwest sent to fly us to DC.
(if you don't have facebook, you can just click the X on the popup that says 'see more on Facebook" then turn the volume on and up.) These are just travelers that happened to be in the gate area waiting for their own flights. I won't lie, tears flowed down my face.
Very heartfelt to hear about your trip MJ 😔 . So happy you got to have a lifetime journey experience ‘ had to be emotional 🥲 . God bless thx for sharing and your service .. Rob ..
OK, I'm ready to talk some about this trip to DC, but I warn you, the post(s) going to be long. It was indeed, a short quick trip, but it was packed full of, well everything.
It was a great, quick, but also an exhausting trip, physically, mentally and emotionally and I'm still trying to process a lot of it from end to end. Some may find this overly detailed but I want you all to get an understanding of how this great program works. At the time, I didn't understand it all myself but It's not some thrown together process. A LOT of planning goes into each of these flights around the country and most of it is carried out by some very caring loving individuals...as I learned and you're all going to find out..
I got the call back in July and the lady calling said I was selected to go assuming I wanted to and was able to make it (it had been nearly 3 years since I signed up for it) & told me she was going to be my primary 'guardian' on the trip and asked some questions about my medical and physical condition, whether I needed a wheel chair, or walked with a cane or walker etc.... After she spoke to me a bit, she said to look for some forms in my in box to fill out and signoff on, and then she wanted to talk to my wife, I assumed to make sure I was indeed able to make the trip. I handed wife the phone and they talked a little then wife walked away from me out on the porch and they spoke privately, and my wife of 31 years flat told me afterwards when I asked what they said "It's none of your business old man!" More on that later..........
There was a 'meet n greet' in Austin the weekend before the flight. That's when they gave us some specifics about this particular flight, as well as making sure we all had what we needed. They gave each of us a very nice carry-on bag, 2 ball caps. One was 'Vietnam Veteran', and the other with 100th Honor Flight Austin logo. We also received 2 polo type shirts each, all identical blue with Austin HonorFlight 100th flight logos. Nothing was to be stowed under the plane's belly, everything of ours was to be carry on and all, in those bags. 2 pr pants 2of underclothes, some socks, toiletries, 2 shirts, pajamas, anything else small enough to get thru 72 hours.
Initially, early last month, I was going to make the 1 1/2 hour trip by myself down to Austin in my truck and leave it parked at the airport, but wife absolutely nixed that idea. Since she's 5'2" she has a lot of trouble driving (barely can see over the dash much less over the hood) my slightly lifted F150 so we opted to rent a car & decided to drive down Thursday night, rent a motel near the airport for 2-3 nights. (flight left Friday around noon and returned just after dark Saturday.)
Several weeks ago, wife, that I've often described as the love of a 1000 lifetimes told me she had lost some contacts out of her cell phone and needed mine to get them copied back. I had no idea what it was, but knew, "something's afoot''..
Almost every veteran, regardless of physical condition or age gets a trained person assigned to them to make sure each is well cared for. There were 62 veterans on this trip and a big # of guardians plus some other Honor Flight staff including 2 EMTs. The female guardians of course don't stay in the same hotel room with you but we did each have another veteran as a room mate. There were vets of various physical conditions, most able to get around pretty good.. getting ahead of myself..
Austin Bergstrom airport on a Friday is pretty busy.. it is the capitol of the 2nd most populated state..
We got into Austin late Thursday, settled in about a mile from the terminal and I decided we should go out. It surprised Jane because I don't like to go out to bars since i don't drink anymore, but, 'anything' can happen on any flight, and this was going to be going into Washington Reagan. We played some pool, danced a little and talked a lot. I was not afraid, but I was nervous. We ended up at Denny's around 2 in the morning. Didn't sleep much.
It had been years since I had last flown and wanted to go on this flight so bad and was afraid I would get kicked off because of the 2 electronic gizmos in my back. They are controlled by 2 different cell phones and the implants 'call home' several times per day to the cell phones. The phones, I could turn off or put into airplane mode, but not the implants, they have their own communication circuits via bluetooth. So, before I left home Thursday afternoon, I used the strong magnet that comes with the devices and shut the impulse generators completely down. Took the phones with me, turned off but forgot the magnet. A big mistake. I forgot how much pain I had before the implants.
Friday morning, Jane (my wife) drops me at the departure gate at 5:30 at the group of red shirted HF folks and all us blue shirted, blue hat veterans are filing in. HF has their own little area, a table laid out and they check off each name to our driv license. They already have each of our boarding passes laid out on a table, give us each this little around-your-neck transparent carrier for them, and our name in BIG letters, the emt goes around to each and sees if we need anything and we all pass on down the hall and take seats and starting to get to know each other. Eventually, everyone is checked in, and we file down around the corner to TSA security. The place is huge, completely filled with travelers in long snaking lines sorta like you might see at Disneyland, down one line of ropes, back up another, then down again till ya reach the scanners, but they shot us right around all that. Dropped our identical bags on the conveyor, walked thru the xray and people like me with metal implants they pulled aside and quickly and professionally frisked me and sent us on our way out into the main terminal to form a big line to go down to gate 21 at the other end of the terminal. That's when it started.
A color guard from Austin Army reserve and Austin Police Dept led us, with bagpipe playing what I immediately recognized as Scotland The Brave. There were thousands of people in the terminal along each gate waiting for their own flights or to meet someone coming in on one. They're all yelling and screaming and clapping and it was something none of us had ever experienced. There wasn't a dry eye among us.. It was wonderful, but it was hard at the same time. Really hard. It didn't get any quieter until we reached our own gate (21) at the end of the terminal and sat down and waited for our aircraft to come to the gate.
This was a Southwest airlines flight that had done it for Austin Honor Flight dozens of times, but because this was the 100th Austin HF flight and a 100% In country Vietnam Veterans flight, SW Air pulled out all the stops. They had a huge cake and urns of coffee at the boarding gate while we waited and we flew to DC on this aircraft. Freedom1 I posted above.
As we backed away from the gate, ground crews held up signs in support and when we entered the ramp toward the runway, 2 fire trucks did a water arch over the plane. (I was in center seat and couldn't really get good photos.
I slept most of the flight, interrupted only by the USAF veteran sitting by the window trying to point out that we were over the coastline. (he thought it was Atlantic but I knew it was the gulf at that point)
On descent into Reagan, I was very aware that were were on the very same flight path over the Potomac where the airliner/helo collided but didn't really give it much thought. Short final and just kinda drop down hard right after the first marker, apply brakes and reverse thrust and you begin to wonder if they gonna get it stopped but it was ok. Inside Reagan, it's the same thing as Austin. People whooping and clapping and reaching out and telling us welcome home!! A LOT of people. Some foreigners tho, just stood and looked at us like our hair was on fire..
(I have to finish this later...much more to come.)
Out of the airport, onto the sidewalk and our Austin 'guardians are checking off each name, onto three charted bus and right away one of the guardians on a microphone starts pointing out the buildings and different things as we pass by. I, am on the Alpha bus. "Don, you're on the Alpha bus, this is the Bravo bus. The Apha bus is over there" Our driver, is fearless. In and out of traffic like he's running a grand prix and every lane his lane and he just don't care wo else may want to occupy it.
The Marriot. I don't remember which one but it's actually in Virginia. Nice digs but we don't go to our rooms yet. It's right into a big dining facility, throw our blue bags against a wall and find a seat at any of many big tables all set with bluetable clothes, several forks, tall glasses of water with a big plate of salad in front of each chair and waiters everywhere dressed with their starched white shirts and black jackets. All us Texas vets are all way under dressed for the dinner we are about to eat.. It's here, that we learn each of us will have a personal military escort (guardian) with us every waking moment until we board the plane back to Texas. I sat at a table and a young Army soldier from Ft Belvoir comes, sits down, and he looks about 16 and IMO, needs a haircut but Myles is supposed to stick to me like glue. (yeah, good luck with that) He's an E3, medical type. I picked at my salad, then passed on the entraa and I ate the dessert, strawberry shortcake I think it was.
On other side, a very young Marine Sgt sits down, waiting for his vet to come sit down. Our name tags on the thing that hangs from our neck has our branch of service emblem, mine being an EGA and Sgt asks what my mos was and it happens to be the same as his. 6077, so I ask him what squadron he's with and he's from HMX just over at Quantico. Quantico is where Headquarters Marine Corps is but they have White Side and Greenside. Green=HQMC Whiteside is HMX. So, I know immediately what this Sgt does and why he's already got 2 rows of ribbons. They are the squadron that tranports the President around when he's not flying on AirForce one. So, He and I are both CH53 guys but his is a lot fancier than the ones I flew on. He has to go to another table as that's where his vet sat down.
Back when my primary guardian first called, she told me we were each going to get an opportunity to speak at this dinner, so be thinking about what I wanted to say regarding my year in Vietnam, in other words, .we were going to get to tell our stories, from RVN. No audio recording, no video, just between us boots on the ground guys (there was 1 female there too) I had stayed up most of Wed night trying to compose what I wanted to say..
At the meet & greet the previous Saturday, much was said by the non Vietnam war primary speaker (ceo of honor flight Austin) about the non-army branches of service and it didn't sit well with some of us. I suppose it went over ok but it came off as the same kind of disrespect we all often got when we came back over 50 years ago. I wanted to set the record straight... 'Army this, Army that' may have worked ok out in the wide expanses of the mid east desert, where maneuver warfare was possible but in Vietnam it was all small units. A full battalion would be an unusually big operation. Most of the fighting took place with company sized units operating out of LZs and fire support bases. I hauled too many Americal and 101st wounded and dead around to believe any of his bullshit.
Friday night about a dozen of us spoke. I spoke nearly 50% of it, of my experience with relying on USAF aircraft and Navy air power and fire support from US Navy vessels to allow us in Marine helos to be able to get into hot LZs. I simply wouldn't be here today without them. Door gunners are patched in thru a helmet headset/microphone to the pilot and cockpit comm. We cold hear everything the pilots say and everything said to them When you're trying to resupply an LZ up just south of the DMZ and just north of the Cua Viet River, and the command post waves you off several times because they don't want you shot down in their tiny outpost, killing 1/2 his troops and plugging up the LZ so nobody else can get in or out and you move off to the south a little ways and to a higher altitude, and you hear the FAC calling for fixed air support...bad things are fixing to happen. A pair of F4 Phantoms from Danang air base come in screaming, dropping napalm on the treeline where the fire and mortars are coming from, then 2-3 Navy A6s from a carrier on Yankee Station drop HE just outside the perimeter all the way past the jungle edge and an A-6 might be subsonic but they can carry a crapload of HE. A new voice comes up, and it's 1st ANGLICO telling you to move a little farther away and the whole area around the LZ starts exploding because a destroyer or cruiser is lobbing shell after shell of 5" or 8" and all of a sudden what's left of the jungle is quiet and we can get in and drop off what and who we are carrying. I saw that play out time and time again, especially over in Laos in Lam Son 719 where fixed wing from as far away as Guam dropped bomb load after bomb load for over a month straight as the ARVN on the ground were getting shot to pieces because the NVA knew ahead of time what the plan of attack was and threw 2 full divisions at them to demoralize all of the South Vietnam military. It worked too.
Then, I spoke at length thru teary eyes about the friends I lost, how hard it was when they didn't return from their missions into Laos and what it was like to have to go thru and 'sanitize' all their belongings so their mothers and wives back home wouldn't see something their fallen sons or husbands wouldn't have wanted them to... It was very hard, but hopefully vanquished some of my own demons and the dreams that my wife never understood will stop and I don't ever ever ever want her to. That's why we fight in far away places, so our friends and loved ones back here never have to know and see the real horrors of war. Sep 22, 2025 Add bookmark #54 I never heard anyone say we weren't allowed to go anywhere, so after the dinner, I stepped out to a bench right out in front to enjoy the cool temps and gentle breeze. In about 10 minutes, here comes my local guardian, 'oh, oh there you are...we're all looking for you and a few seconds later 3-4 more little Army guys and gals are out there.. making sure I came back inside like a good little boy. I coulda been down 3 blocks at the 'Gentleman's Club' our bus passed on the way from the airport to hotel.
It was time to get our room keys and they realized I was gone when they couldn't check me off their always present checklist but they didn't see the other vet that was around the corner hiding to smoke a cigarette. My room mate was an old sailor that was kinda disappointed he didn't have a room to himself but we both set our phones to wake us up at 5 but I was up at 4:30 and downstairs drinking coffee.
Next morning was a big serve yourself breakfast at 6am and it was much much better than the dinner the night before. Grab all our bags, and on the buses. We're still in Va but soon are in DC and our primary guardian has done this a lot, pointing out buildings of interest. I marveled at the height and length of the Dept of Agriculture building and thought of all of you. I have tons of pictures I took but they're nothing you haven't or can't see anywhere on the web for the most part. Arlington Cemetery was impressive and sad at the same time. We first stopped at WW2 Memorial, which was immense. Walked all the way around and thru it. All those 4000+gold stars behind the fountains, each representing 100 fallen. It took some time to walk around it I came to regret that but I didn't bring the strong magnet that's needed to reset them and it's a really good thing I took my cane. They tried several times to put me in a wheelchair but I declined.
The places we actually stopped at were the memorials of interest to Veterans. ww2, Vietnam/Korean war Memorials, Into the gate of Arlingon Cemetery, where we stayed nearly an hour and saw the changing of the guard and 2 of our members got to assist in changing out the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown, with the guard's help and direction. It wasa chilling thing to watch. Spent a good bit of time there. We walked around part of the cemetery a bit and someone pointed out Col John Glenn's grave. Later..........
My little speech ended with a poem that one of my squadron mates had written for a memorial service we had at Marble Mountain Air Facility south of Danang, after we stood down from that gawd awful Lam Son 719. I remember him reading it in that little chapel that March 1971 evening but none of us got a copy of it. It was just one of many difficult days over there. When the squadron departed Vietnam a couple of months later, I had orders to Millington Nav Base Tn for instructor and maintenance duty, & not with the squadron in Hawaii. They had been in Vietnam continously since 1967. I didn't know it, but there was a cruise book made up for that '70-'71 time frame. I must have been flying the day they took the pictures for it.. Fast forward to around 1984, my father was in a yard sale or flea market in Conroe Texas and saw a book laying there and recognized my old squadron emblem on the front..a Pegasus. He gave a couple of bucks for it and gave it to me next visit. The last page of that cruise book had a photo of that poem that my friend had written. When all my kids came for a visit in 2011, I spread most of my old Vietnam USMC stuff out and decided to let them divide it up then. One of the few things I kept, was the last page from that cruise book and it's hung on my wall behind glass ever since. Faded now, and very fragile. I read it the night of the honor flight dinner, but it was hard to get thru it. Kobe got it right.
The Wall. I had been to the scaled down traveling Vietnam wall a couple of times. Once with my father in '84 and again around 2003 in San Angelo Tx with Jane. But, the one in DC was different. It's a lot taller, longer and in the shadow of Arlington cemetery. I again touched my friends' names. The emmesity of it and all those names along with the size of the cemetery is hard to digest.
But, that's not the only wall there. There is a wall on the North side of the WW2 memorial, with over 4000 gold stars on it, each representing 100 KIAs. There are 56 granite columns surrounding it, one for each state and territory in WW2 eras. I saw them all in one of my hobbling along walks.
The Korean War Memorial. Growing up, I hauled hay and worked calves for a friend of my father. He hadserved in Korea in the 1st Marine Division at Chosin Reservoir and lost some toes to frostbite. As I stood next to that memorial to the so called 'forgotten war' I looked at the faces of the members of that returning patrol, with their cold weather/rain gear on, and even tho it was over 80 deg that day in DC, I could feel the cold and thought of my friend that I had spent so much time with. Forgotten? No, not in my life. There are over 36,000 names on their wall.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 10-04-2025).]
But Myles.. my 'guardian' in DC from Ft Belvoir. I didn't know it until I was on the flight back to Austin,... but this was Myles first gig as a HF guardian. God bless him he tried, he really did but Myles had 2 flaws... One of them was he couldn't resist a pretty face. He was supposed to be making sure I got off the bus ok!!!...
The other, he couldn't stay awake. I took this 2 minutes after we got back on the bus to go to another memorial. He musta had a long hard night after he left me at my room Friday night and I already knew he was excused from all other duties on base... The DC guardians rode with us from the last memorial, then stayed with us thru airport security and stayed at the gate area until we boarded for return flight to Texas. The last time I saw Myles, he was chatting up a different young girl by the bar in the gate area.....
US Marine Iwo Jima memorial, where we were fed box lunches..bbq, mac n cheese and peach cobbler. (choice of chicken or pork...I got chicken and it was a bun sandwich and it was awful. Piled high with chicken but still awful) Leave Texas, fly all day and eat 'bbq' in Washington DC??? What were hey thinking? Of course, I got my picture in front of the Iwo Jima Memorial. All us Marines together in the photo, and there were just a handful of The few, The Proud. I think there were only 6 of us, along with our Austin Honorflight guardians. (I may have posted this already) Top row, far right. This was our next to last stop before the airport and I was hurtin pretty bad by this time. On the bus, off the bus, on the bus, off the bus, walk some more, on the bus, off the bus, walk walk walk... 'Donald, you're on the Alpha bus'..
We couldn't go to the USAF memorial because they had an infestation of bodylice-crabs Oh, I'm mistaken, it was lantern moths they were spraying for but we did stop at US Navy Memorial which is kinda in between some large govt office looking buildings right next to the original FDR memorial. We were running a little behind schedule so they asked only the Navy folks or if you had a relative USN kia to get off. I stayed aboard the Alpha bus.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 10-04-2025).]
Twice I visited the Wall, I couldn't manage to actually touch the wall, found several names I knew. Other monuments there spark pride in seeing them, that wall brings tears.
All gave some, some gave all. My sincerest gratitude to all those who served.
Thanks for posting this MJ. I was wondering what it was going to be like, not just for everyone in general, but also how you might deal with it. I'm sure (as I read), it brings up a lot of pain as well... but also some level of comradery. Sorry that the Navy guy didn't get his own room... he's probably frustrated by having to sleep next to so many people in those little bunks over the years that he was jaded.
I appreciated the experience you had at the Korean War memorial too... it's the same as I'd always felt too. From the moment they built the memorial (it wasn't there when I was a little kid living in DC), I always appreciated the fact that... while sad, the "haunting" look on the faces of the soldier statues really helps to try to convey what they felt. I'd never known it was so bitterly cold there until you told me about your dad's friend that you worked with, but I always got that impression when I'd visited it that... even though it might be in the middle of summer, it felt "chilling" over there.
Anyway, thanks for writing all that, I really appreciated the opportunity to read it.
Sorry, I've been really busy vehicle shopping with my wife...
Somewhere after we reached cruising speed and got leveled off, and the seatbelt warning lights were off our primary spokesperson came on the plane speaker and explained what we all already knew but we had a few non-veteran passengers aboard to fill out the seats. Paraphrased..." When you're deployed, the one single thing troops and sailors looked forward to was mail call. Not as important nowadays since cell phones are available thru satellite tech, but in decades past, it was really important. In Vietnam, Korea, WW2 etc it could sometimes be weeks before mail caught up with you if your unit changed locations or you were moved from one company or battalion to another and that was one of the bright spots in my flying, we took mail to LZs and firebases any time we went. So, that announcement was the signal for our Austin guardians to get up and open some of the overhead storage doors. We were gonna have mail call!
They brought big Manilla envelopes with each of our names in magic marker. and handed them out. We each got one. Mine was filled with letters and cards from my family back in East Texas, my sisters, nieces, old neighbors. That's when I knew what my wife had wanted to use my phone for back in July and August and what he original contact lady had wanted to talk to her in private about... A conspiracy! My wife doesn't know how I keep names on my phone (usernames often) so she really couldn't contaxt all I have in my contacts so she missed the ones from here at PFF and my Marine pals from a different website.
It was a pretty emotional time, the plane got very quiet and once again, old men's eyes were misty. I was opening some from my nieces, and 2 of the guardians came back up to my row of seats, and just pointed at me. Almost accusatory like. Said one word. GREYBEARD!? "uh, yeah, some people know me by that name.." I kinda offered in my defense.... afraid they were fixing to throw me out onto the wing.
"Well, since we know your email begins with the word 'cowman', and you defitely have a grey beard, & looking at some of the addresses, this has to be yours"
She handed me another big FAT manila envelope with 'Greybeard' scrawled on it, stuffed full and I opened it. Love and support came flowing out of it. NThere wasn't much room cramped up in a plane seat but i reached in and pulled some out. The very first one I opened, was a home made card, 1/2 sheet of construction paper, folded in 1/2 to make a card, a hand drawn heart, crayon colored in on the front and the sweetest little note inside "Dear Mr Greybeard" it began, in a child's hand printing... "Thank you for all you have done for and to protect...." A 10 year old named Ollie with brown hair and loves softball..
I won't type it all because I'd have to type all of them here and there are a lot! But at that point, I looked down in that big envelope, & I am done!. I didn't even try to keep it together & I bawled like a baby. I saw ranch and farm names from a cattle related website called Cattle Today that I frequent a lot nowadays, peoples real names I wasn't sure of, and I was just a mess at that point. But I wasn't the only one on the plane like that. The Coastguardsman sitting beside me was non-stop sniffling and wiping his eyes too as he went thru his own envelope..
There were also some too, from a different ag website I used to post at and read everyday but I haven't been back to in years,. (I guess I better dig out my old notebook with username and password so I can thank them properly
I couldn't open them all on the plane as there wasn't time or room and I just couldn't figure out how it came about because my wife never looks at Cattle Today or any other ag website I'm on. But, now that I've been home and had time to read them all, and have solved the mystery of 'how/who'.... To someone up in Tennessee and her family, a very special thanks for evidently getting the ball rolling. She read my post on the ag forum that I was going on Honor Flight and she is very deeply involved as a guardian with Honor Flight where they live, so she just covertly put the word out... (This is not all of them, just wasn't room on the floor, I hadn't opened them all when I took this photo and I'm backed into a closet just to get this shot.) The flags& suspenders etc, , i'll explain in a bit. Not related to the mailcall.)
So, it wasn't too much later in the flight, the seatbelt light comes back on, and we have to stuff things away...we're almost home again...It's been a hell of a long tiring, emotional rollercoaster ride for 36 hours...
We arrived back in Austin Saturday night just as the sun was about to set. Grab our bags, go inside the secure part of the terminal where the boarding gates are and line up, so they can once again check our nametags (I guess to make sure no one had jumped out at 30,000 ft?) It's all pretty much deserted as we followed the vets in wheelchairs back down the same way we had followed the color guard a day earlier, turn left out toward the main lobby thru a narrow corridor , make another left into the oddly darkened long wide lobby and get ready for the trek to the entrance doors (our exit now). It's been a great trip, but exhausting and we're emotionally and physically drained...the youngest among us is in his early 70s. We're tired and ready to meet our families and go home. Wife & I have a 70 mile trip back hometo Copperas Cove.
The lights suddenly come on, public address system comes up, some music starts Stars and Stripes Forever/God Bless America and the non security part of the place is packed. Hundreds. Not travelers this late. Our friends, families, just citizens from Austin come out to meet us. On both sides of us, signs, balloons, everyone has a flag to wave. They're clapping and yelling and coming up to shake our hands. The waterworks are flowing again all over among us, and I start looking for my wife. I just can't find her then at the very end where the 2 lines close up like the bottom of a 'U', there are my 2 older sisters, one in her 80s and in a wheelchair, the other just a few years younger 3 of my nieces, all came from near Houston just to see me 'come home'. Each, waving American and Marine Corps flags. Some welcome home baskets.. My wife steps out from behind them, bawlin and I hold her tighter than I ever have. I try to talk to them but I can't. I have no pictures of that, and it's probably a good thing. After a bit when I could put a few words together, I learn they have rented an airbnb over just East of Austin and want us to come stay the night with them but we have a 2 hour drive, dogs at home to look after so we all go to the closest restaurant instead for breakfast (again, Denny's) to eat and talk. For the next 2 hours, I told all about my trip, and then for the first time ever, talked more to them about my time in Vietnam than I ever did before. Some closure now, some demons maybe cut down. It's been a long 54 years. I left as a kid, came home a man & broken and alone inside but maybe no more.
God Bless you all here and thanks for reading and thanks for the support you've always shown me for the last 2 1/2 decades..
What a great experience for you and the other veterans. I hope that each and every one of you find the peace and closure that you desire. Bless all of you.
Originally posted by maryjane: ... and then for the first time ever, talked more to them about my time in Vietnam than I ever did before. Some closure now, some demons maybe cut down. It's been a long 54 years. I left as a kid, came home a man & broken and alone inside but maybe no more.
God Bless you all here and thanks for reading and thanks for the support you've always shown me for the last 2 1/2 decades..
Speaking of "waterworks". Jeez...
It makes me truly happy to read, especially, your last few lines, in addition to the preceding paragraphs. 'Nam vets got a raw deal - especially when they came home. I was, as I've posted before, too young to have "shared" in the experience, and all the other stuff that went down, surrounding that. But I've heard the stories. I humbly thank you for all that you have endured and experienced, on our behalf. It's something that I can never repay, other than by trying to keep the faith (in our country and its constitution) alive. If I ever make it out that way, or if you ever make it out this way, adult beverages (or coffee if you prefer) are on me.
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 10-10-2025).]
Don, Thanks for posting this. Admittedly, it hit me hard. Yourself and those who served during that time deserve one hell of a lot more credit than what you got upon returning.
While active duty as a Marine, I provided escorts, funeral detail and honor guard for those who had served like yourself. Saying I have respect for those who served is leaving a large gap in how much I sincerely appreciate their (and your) service and sacrifice. Honestly, I very proud to call you and service members like you friend.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 10-10-2025).]
